By Melissa Clark, The New York Times
What do you call a scone crossed with a jam cake and a cinnamon roll?
The first time I tried it, I called it a Franken-scone. The pastry flattened, and the jam oozed like gloppy magma, burning at the edges of the pan. I had to resort to a butter knife to pry a tiny crumb from the baking sheet. And yet, from the first bite, the rich taste of butter, raspberry and caramel flooded my mouth. Maybe it wasn’t pretty, but I knew that with a few simple tweaks, this monstrosity could become something marvelous.
The whole thing was inspired by Erin Gardner’s giant cinnamon roll scone, in which she swaps the usual yeast dough with an easy-to-make scone pastry. She then forms it into a giant pinwheel and slices it into wedges before baking.
I wondered what would happen if I used jam instead of a brown sugar filling. Might this be the solution to one of my lifelong teatime obsessions: baking jam directly into a scone so it wouldn’t be dry?
This culinary fixation had already yielded two recipes. In one, I added raisin-like dried strawberries to a scone loaf to create sticky, jam-like pockets. In another, I gave scones the cookie treatment, plopping homemade plum compote into thumbprints, yielding cornmeal plum scones.
Those recipes are delightful, but my work wasn’t done. I wanted more jamminess. By adopting Gardner’s pinwheel shape, I hoped to stuff even more jam into the dough.
Calibrating the amount and variety of jam turned out to be the tricky part. Too much, or using a thin fruit preserve or a jelly, produced a leaky, burned mess. I knew I needed a thick, dense jam, added sparingly.
What I hadn’t dared hope, though, was that the moisture in the jam would change the texture of the scone so much. Instead of dry or crumbly, it turned thrillingly tender and deeply buttery. It was like a spiraled jam cake, which I played up by drizzling a citrusy icing on top.
My confection isn’t a scone any more than it’s a cake or a roll. I decided to call it something else entirely — a giant jam bun, which I hope doesn’t make this swirly treat sound too threatening. Because, although I may have created a monster, it is beautiful at heart.
Recipe: Giant Jam Bun
A cross between a tender scone, an almond-flavored jam cake, and a swirly cinnamon bun, this plush confection makes a sweet breakfast or teatime treat. You can use any flavor of jam here, just be sure it’s thick and rich with pieces of fruit, and don’t use jelly, which will liquefy and leak out from the pastry layers while in the oven. Though this is best eaten the day it’s baked, it’s nearly as good a day or two later; store it in a sealed container at room temperature.
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 8 servings
Total time: 2 1/2 hours
Ingredients
For the Dough:
3/4 cup/170 grams cold unsalted butter, cubed, more for pan if needed
2 1/4 cups/285 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/3 cup/65 grams granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup/120 milliliters heavy cream, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
For the Filling:
1/2 cup/165 grams thick raspberry or other jam (don’t use jelly)
1 teaspoon finely grated orange or lemon zest, more for garnish
For the Glaze:
2/3 cup/80 grams powdered sugar
2 to 4 teaspoons fresh orange or lemon juice
Preparation
1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a greased sheet of parchment paper.
2. Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt. Add the cubed butter, then pinch and press the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles flour-covered cornflakes.
3. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and add the heavy cream and almond extract. Toss and fold until it forms a loose dough.
4. Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough onto it. Gently knead the dough two or three times to bring it together. Use your hands to press the dough into a 5-by-14-inch rectangle with a long side facing you.
5. Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, combine the jam and zest. Using a spoon or offset spatula, evenly spread the mixture over the top of the dough, fully covering it.
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6. Cut the dough lengthwise into four equal strips. Pick up a strip and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet, filling-side up. Grab one short end and roll it up tightly, then lay it down — on a flat side so that the jam coil is showing — in the center of the sheet. Pick up another strip, and, starting where the first coil left off, wrap that strip, filling-side in, around the coil. Repeat with the two remaining strips until you have one giant spiral. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
7. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 350 degrees.
8. Bake the bun, rotating the pan halfway through, until firm and very lightly golden on top, and browned at the edges, 25 to 35 minutes.
9. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
10. Make the glaze: In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together powdered sugar and enough orange juice to give you a thick but still pourable glaze (thicker than heavy cream). Drizzle over the bun. Let the glaze set for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more orange zest if you like. Slice into wedges for serving.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.